The capsule study, published Monday in Journal of Infectious Diseases, represents an important step in moving away from fecal microbiota transplant as a treatment for C. difficile, says Colleen Kraft, MD, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and medicine (infectious diseases) at Emory University School of Medicine.

While this study involving 30 patients did not include a control group, the reported effectiveness of 96.7 percent compares favorably to published results on antibiotic treatment of C. difficile infection or fecal microbial transplant.

The bacterial spores are obtained by treating stool samples from healthy, screened donors with ethanol, and separating them away from other microbes including potential pathogens. The JID paper says the capsules contain about 50 species of Firmicutes spores. All of the 30 patients in the study received the capsules â€“ the first 15 received a higher dose. At the end of the eight-week study period, investigators reported they could detectÂ not only establishment of the bacterial species contained in the capsules, but also a return of other beneficial species not found in the capsules.